Bessy (comic)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bessy was an adventure comic series, first published in Belgium and then by (West) German Bastei Verlag between 1965 and 1985, about the eponymous collie bitch Bessy as the companion of her human “owner” Andy. Apart from various special editions, the stories, which are usually published weekly and are self-contained in their individual issues, are located in the milieu of the Wild West .

Series creator

The series was designed by the studio of Belgian comic artist Willy Vandersteen . In addition to Vandersteen, who had developed the concept in 1952, the draftsman Karel Verschuere employed in his studio was significantly involved in the design of the comics, so that both published under the common pseudonym Wirel ( Wi lly and Ka rel ). They were supported by Frank Sels , among others . The adventures of the dog Bessy and her master Andy Cayoon, which were drawn throughout in color, were drawn realistically. Between 1965 (from issue 2) and 1979 Klaus Dill drew the cover pictures.

Publications

The comic was first published in the Belgian newspaper La Libre Belgique in 1952 . In Germany, Bessy first appeared in 1957 as a serial in the magazine Der Hausfreund / 7 Tage . By 1968 this magazine had published a total of 19 Bessy adventures. Bastei-Verlag first published Bessy in the children's magazine Pony , after which it was discontinued in the comic magazine Felix, which is also part of the publisher . The publisher deviated from the order of publication of the original material and in particular omitted the opening stories in which Andy's family was introduced. Since Bastei's demand for the stories was very high and Studio Vandersteen was initially unable to meet the demand, the Karl May stories drawn by Verschuere were reworked and sold as Bessy stories in the German-speaking market . So Old Shatterhand got the face of Andy, while Bessy was added to the drawings afterwards. Accordingly, the character Bessy only played a subordinate role in these stories.

From 1965 the stories appeared as a separate issue, which was expanded to include an editorial section in which, among other things, other publishing products from Bastei-Verlag were advertised. The initial print run was 220,000 copies. The publication cycle was initially four weeks, but was changed to two weeks with issue number 6. From issue number 58, Bessy appeared weekly. Up to 1985 992 issues had been published, as well as paperbacks, double and edited volumes. Older adventures by Bessy were reissued from 1976 to 1980. New editions of old adventures appeared under the title Bessy Classic by the publishers Hutterer & Förster and Hethke in the 1980s and 1990s.

In the years 1986 to 1988 the Bastei Verlag brought out a series of albums under the title Bessy - Rescue for Endangered Animals . Andy and Bessy are in it together with the photographer Aneka as journalists on behalf of an environmental protection organization. The series comprised seven volumes. A four-part series as large-format booklets under the title Bessy - The Adventures of Nature Conservationists about the same trio followed. While the original Bessy stories took place in the second half of the 19th century, the events of Bessy - Rescue for Endangered Animals and Bessy - The Adventures of Nature Conservationists are set in the present.

The Flame Jeff Broeckx drew eight western stories from the Bessy original series (the first seven stories and the twelfth) from 1991 to 1997 for Studio Vandersteen in Belgium, with Marck Meul as the author. These 46-page comic albums have not yet been released in Germany. Only the first seven pages of the first redrawn Bessy adventure “The Pioneers” were published in German translation in 1998 in the comic magazine Die sprachblase . Here the reader finally learns what has remained hidden from him for decades: how Andy Cayoon (before he emigrated with his parents from Ireland to Canada) first met the collie bitch Bessy.

Radio plays

Around 1973 the label Europa produced radio play versions of the Bessy adventures The Dynamit-Trap and The Lawless , which appeared on long-playing records. Another Bessy radio play with the title Der Wundercolt by Abilane was released by Poly in 1980 on both LP and compact cassette.

literature

  • Bernd Dolle-Weinkauff: Comics - History of a Popular Form of Literature in Germany since 1945 . Beltz Verlag, Weinheim and Basel 1990, ISBN 3-407-56521-6 , pp. 177-184.
  • Joachim Atzert: Violence and Order - The Construction of Justice using the example of the comic series BESSY. University scripts: Medien 22, Verlag Volker Spiess, Berlin 1982, ISBN 3-88435-052-8 .
  • Wolfgang J. Fuchs / Reinhold C. Reitberger: Comics - anatomy of a mass medium. Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1973, ISBN 3-499-11594-8 , p. 231.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Bessy in Bastei-Verlag on comicguide.de , accessed on August 25, 2009
  2. ↑ a b c Marcel Feige : The little comic dictionary . Schwarzkopf and Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-89602-544-9 , p. 87
  3. ↑ Karel Verschuere on lambiek.net (English) , accessed on August 25, 2009
  4. ↑ Günther Polland: 1. General German Comic Price Catalog , 2010 p. 32 ff.
  5. ↑ Article on the death of Klaus Dill in: Speech bubble No. 172, 2000, p. 56 ff.
  6. ↑ Bessy in 7 days - Collectorsforen.net. Retrieved July 27, 2020 .
  7. ↑ Bessy (2nd edition) in Bastei-Verlag on comicguide.de , accessed on August 25, 2009
  8. ↑ Bessy Classic on comicguide.de , accessed on August 25, 2009
  9. ↑ Bessy Classic (continued) on comicguide.de , accessed on August 25, 2009
  10. ^ Bessy - Rescue for the Endangered Animals on comicguide.de , accessed on September 24, 2013
  11. ↑ The speech bubble . No. 163 , October 1998, p. 15 .
  12. ↑ The speech bubble . No. 163 , October 1998, p. 30-36 .
  13. ↑ Bessy series on hoerspielland.de , accessed on February 1, 2016
  14. ↑ Jürgen Albrecht - Bessy - The Wundercolt from Abilane. Retrieved July 25, 2020 .